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Friday, 29 June 2012

No, I’m not kidding; even if this Thursday probably set a new attendance record. Ever since 1989, Thursday nights from late June to early August mean free public concerts with nationally more-or-less-famous artists in the town square; and the shops keeping open until the main concert starts at 9 p.m.

This year the organizers struck gold when back in winter they booked the singer Loreen for the first summer concert this year. As it turned out, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 – see music video at YouTube – and suddenly got a lot more famous than she was before that!

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▲ My own photos above ▲ were taken about 1½ hours before the main concert. Actually, since I’m not really too keen on standing around in a crowd of around 25.000 people listening to extremely loud music – I did not stay for the concert.

Even if I had stayed, there is no way I’d have been able to get shots like these two below (making an exception here from my policy of only posting my own photos on this blog):

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Well, I suppose I could post any sign in Swedish, really, and it would seem strange and unusual to most of you…!

Like this one that I happened to pass by in town today:

“If you happen to be passing by an advertising poster in town and notice that it is for a dentist’s office which wants to inform you that it has been certified for quality according to ISO 9001:2008 (which really means that they are very good at what they do and at making people smile), please linger for a while and continue to read. But don’t remain standing there musing over what you just read forever, but go on to [street name and number], go in through the door, walk up two stairs (or take the elevator) and ask them to their face exactly how they might improve your teeth and give you a more beautiful smile (which you probably need, since you’re still standing here reading).”

Friday, 15 June 2012

This should be easy, but considering I’ve been blogging continually about my town for about three years now, I’m finding it kind of hard to come up with something “new”.

However, it may come as a surprise to some bloggers who have been following me for a while now… that THIS is where most of my Swedish visiting friends have wanted to go in the past:

The shopping mall/district ‘Knalleland’ (well, part of it)!

Borås is an old textile and mailorder centre; and even though nowadays there are less actual ‘factory outlets’ than there used to be, we still have a reputation for cheap (or supposedly cheap) shopping - especially clothes.

Actually some people travel for hours to get here, only to spend hours going from shop to shop at this mall, and that’s pretty much all they see of the town.

People with small children who aren’t fond of shopping, usually bribe them by also throwing in a visit the zoo.

The zoo was founded in the 1960s and specializes in African endangered species - and our own Scandinavian ones (like wolves):

A place I like to suggest to visitors is the Textile Museum, which is unique in Sweden. They have a permanent exhibition of old machinery etc reflecting the textile history of the area; and seasonal exhibitions of varying kind. I’ve blogged about this museum before on several occasions.

Another favourite spot of mine is the Open Air Museum, a park with a variety of old buildings which have been moved there. In the main museum there is usually some current exhibition of local history or crafts. In the summer you may also find modern sculptures on display in the park. In the tourist season there is a café.

I also like our town centre where besides shopping you can go for a stroll along the river and in the town park. The riverside restaurants and cafés are popular in the summer.

In later years, Borås has managed to build a reputation as a town of many sculptures. We got a boost in 2008 with Jim Dine’s 9 m high broze sculpture of Pinocchio:

This summer we’re having our third sculpture biennal with some extra sculptures on loan in addition to the permanent ones. This time many of the new works are displayed in and around our newly renovated Cultural Centre; in which building you’ll find the art museum, library, and theatre.

Saturday, 9 June 2012

In the Borås International Sculpture Biennal 2012, which opened last weekend, most of the new sculptures are on display in and around our town’s Cultural Centre (including Art Museum, Theatre and Library) and the nearby Gustav Adolf’s Church from 1906.

This gave me a good opportunity to also take some interior photos.

Let’s start with the church:

The pulpit and the baptismal font

The big church organ at the back

A smaller organ, drums, and a piano…And the possibility to light a candle as expression of prayer.

A votive ship

Votive offerings also called ex-votos are given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude, to a church where the worshipper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. In Scandinavia, model ships were common votive gifts from sailors.

One of the sculptures included in the 2012 Biennal,on display in the church: ‘House 18’ by Lars-Åke Åberg.

I like how they placed this with the light coming in from above through the church windows.

And it fits in beautifully with biblical images of the Church:

“you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5)”

The exterior – just so you know where you’ve been!

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Close to the Gustav Adolf Church is our Cultural Centre,including Art Museum, Theatre and Library

The entrance hall facing the church is extra interesting just now because of this work of art by Alyson Shotz, USA, entitled “The Shape of Space” – which is part of the Sculpture Biennal.

With this sculpture, you’re supposed to also explore the interior…

Looking out from inside the “Shape of Space” sculpture.(Do you recognize the church?)

Interior from the Art Museum

Interior from the entrance to the theatre

Interior from the Library

The new automatic Book Return MachineUgly, but saving the staff a lot of manual lifting of books.

From what I understand, the books get automatically sorted in the machine and then the staff can just pull a trolley out and roll that away to the right section of the library, to manually sort the books into the shelves.

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In "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis, the goal of the journey is to explore "the Unknown Eastern Seas Beyond the Lone Islands". - Learn more by clicking on About Me at the top of the blog.